When knitting hose for ladies tights for example, the newly knitted fabric on the knitting machine is pulled down under tension, generally exerted by means of a suction take-down mechanism. When the article of hose is completed, it is pressed off from the knitting machine and a butterfly valve is switched to cause the pressed off article to be conveyed by suction through a U-tube to a dispenser. Upon arrival at the dispenser the article passes through a pivotable trap door and then falls into a bag.
The article is next subjected to a finishing procedure which includes in many cases the placing of a pair of knitted tubes on a Takatori automatic seaming machine. Here two tubes are slit, and the slit portions of adjacent tubes are linked to produce a pair of tights with a waistband, a body portion and a pair of leg portions. The article can then be stored, and/or subjected to a dyeing process to customer requirements. During the dyeing process the stockings or tights shrink because of the attendant treatment in hot water.
The articles pressed off from the knitting machine may alternatively be collected and subjected to a tumbling process involving steam, so to ensure that they are shrunk to a standard length, before the Takatori linking operation. However, even with this refinement, it has been difficult to ensure that the articles which are linked together have an equal length and can easily be placed on the Takatori machine. Furthermore, eveness of appearance is sometimes not provided by the tumbling process: indeed the tumbling process itself can contribute to variations in appearance.
Significant benefits in finishing can be obtained by subjecting the individual articles to a reproducible relaxation or shrinking treatment in association with individual knitting machines.
Patent Specification U.S. 3996771 (Routh) relates to such apparatus in which hosiery discharged from the knitting machine is transferred by air in timed sequence with the machine to a heat assembly for a prescribed time to set the stitches. The displacement of the knit garment is controlled by air jets, the operation of which is controlled by the pattern drum of the knitting machine.